Friday 26 September 2008, University of Manchester

To mark the occasion of the annual European Day for Languages on 26 September 2008, the School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures (SLLC) at the University of Manchester, in partnership with LLAS Subject Centre, will host a day long conference on one of the most innovative teaching and learning methodologies in languages in recent years. Enquiry-Based Learning (EBL) has been growing steadily across all sectors as a way to enhance students' independent learning, encourage intellectual curiosity, develop valuable transferable skills and increase overall motivation.

The conference at Manchester envisages exploring the role of EBL in language learning and teaching, an area still quite new to EBL and which requires extensive investigation and research. In this respect, the University of Manchester's Centre for Excellence in Enquiry-Based Learning (CEEBL) has been supporting the introduction of EBL in several disciplines, and most recently, in languages (notably in French, Japanese, Spanish). With the support offered by CEEBL, Manchester finds itself at the forefront of EBL and ideally placed to host such a conference which will invite professionals to share experience and expertise thus enriching the theoretical and didactic background of EBL and languages.

Call for papers:

Your proposal should include the title of the paper and should be of a maximum of 200 words. Papers will be 20 minutes with 10 minutes for discussion. The working language of the conference will be English. Please send your proposal to Catherine Franc ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ). Proposal deadline: Saturday 31st May 2008. Publication of the conference papers and case-studies will follow as part of the overall aim to disseminate evidence of best practice through this mode of learning.

Area of studies proposed:

- The development of professional and transferable skills through EBL

- Independent learning, the autonomy of the learner

- The role of the facilitator/ language tutor

- The place of EBL in the larger curriculum

- Assessment issues, including the process and product debate

- Inter-disciplinarity